Caritas relates the 'true', yet largely undocumented story of Christine Carpenter, a 14th-century anchoress who moves towards insanity as her desire for a divine revelation continues to be unfulfilled after a period of three years locked in her cell. Although physically isolated, she is aware of the worldly life and love that she has abandoned. The very essence of the drama is the dogmatic refusal of her Bishop to release her from her vows. Set against the backcloth of the Peasants' Uprising (1381), the libretto/play juxtaposes sacred and secular worlds, the relative power and servitude of...

Kraanerg by Iannis Xenakis is one of the most important works of the post-1950 era. James Harley, a leading Xenakis scholar, presents the genesis of Kraanerg, from the granting of the commission to the choreographer, to the selection of Xenakis as composer, to the premiere, recording, and subsequent presentations. The book is written with the benefit of access to sketches and recordings in the Xenakis Archives, allowing Harley to delve into the details of how this particular work came about. An overview of Xenakis's life is provided, looking at his major works and important compositional...

Explores the varied roles that composers, performers, listeners, critics, and theorists play in musical culture and the interactions between them. The 11 essays, developed from presentations to the 1994 Colston Symposium at the University of Bristol, range widely in the material they discuss, but sp